Larry Ellison has tried—and failed—to purchase an NBA franchise before, but his dream may soon come true thanks to the suddenly for-sale Clippers. The founder of Oracle is something like the world's fifth-richest man. His net worth is $50 billion, give or take a few billion dollars (and something is very skewed when you can ballpark billions). He makes Donald Sterling look like a pauper. Hell, he makes Paul Allen look like he's barely scraping by. Add to his personal wealth the involvement of David Geffen and Oprah Winfrey, and you've got a group that's capable of winning what's sure to be a bidding war.

The Oracle chief has had basketball courts on at least two of his yachts, said Tom Ehman, who handles America's Cup matters for Mr. Ellison. He said Mr. Ellison liked to relax by shooting hoops on these courts, and has had someone in a powerboat following the yacht to retrieve balls that go overboard.

There is someone in this world whose job description includes chasing after Larry Ellison's floating misses. The rich are different.